P. J. O'Rourke is America's leading political satirist. He joined National Lampoon in 1973, where he served as editor for a time, before going freelance in 1981. His pieces have appeared in publications such as Playboy, Car and Driver, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times Book Review. He is now a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly.

O'Rourke's books include Republican Party Reptile (1987), Give War a Chance (1992), Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut (1995), Eat the Rich (1999), and Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism (2004).

P. J. O'Rourke is currently an H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute, for whom he wrote The Liberty Manifesto.